Having trouble opening a file? Its probably because it has been saved in a file format that Word doesnt support on your device. Find your device and then check the table to see if thats the case.
Note:This article refers to mobile devices only. If you're having difficulty opening a document in Word on your PC see Open a document after a file corruption error.
File type
Open and edit
Open as read-only
Word documents (.docx)
Yes
Yes
Binary documents (.doc)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
Word templates (.dotx)
Yes
Yes
Binary templates (.dot)
Yes
Yes
Macro-enabled documents (.docm)
No
Yes
IRM-protected files
Yes
Yes
OpenDocument Text (.odt)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
PDF (.pdf)
No
No
Rich text files (.rtf)
No
No
Word XML, Word 2003 XML, or other XML files (.xml)
No
No
Hypertext markup language (.htm, .html)
No
No
Web pages (.mht, .mhtml)
No
No
Plain text file (.txt)
No
No
Works 6-9 documents (.wps)
No
No
File type
Open and edit
Open as read-only
Word documents (.docx)
Yes
Yes
Binary documents (.doc)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
Word templates (.dotx)
No
No
Binary templates (.dot)
No
No
Macro-enabled documents (.docm)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
IRM-protected files
No
Yes
OpenDocument Text (.odt)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
Password Protected (Password-To-Open)
Yes
Yes
Password Protected (Password-To-Modify)
No
Yes
PDF (.pdf)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
Rich text files (.rtf)
No
No
Word XML, Word 2003 XML, or other XML files (.xml)
No
No
Hypertext markup language (.htm, .html)
No
No
Web pages (.mht, .mhtml)
No
No
Plain text file (.txt)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
Works 6-9 documents (.wps)
No
No
File type
Open and edit
Open as read-only
Word documents (.docx)
Yes
Yes
Binary documents (.doc)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
Word templates (.dotx)
No
No
Binary templates (.dot)
No
No
Macro-enabled documents (.docm)
No
Yes
IRM-protected files
No
No
OpenDocument Text (.odt)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
Password Protected (Password-To-Open)
Yes
Yes
Password Protected (Password-To-Modify)
No
Yes
PDF (.pdf)
No
No
Rich text files (.rtf)
No
No
Word XML, Word 2003 XML, or other XML files (.xml)
No
No
Hypertext markup language (.htm, .html)
No
No
Web pages (.mht, .mhtml)
No
No
Plain text file (.txt)
No
Yes
(Update to .docx format to edit)
Works 6-9 documents (.wps)
No
No
Macros are preserved for .doc and .docm format. You cannot edit or execute macros.
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